


A Haven and a Home

by Areiton



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek-centric, Established Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Healthy Coping Mechanisms, Healthy Relationships, M/M, POV Derek, Protective Stiles, S6ep11 coda, they deserve good things ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 22:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11724033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: If not for each other, what the hell are they fighting for?OR:The phone call that happened after Stiles first day and the happy life they actually deserve.





	A Haven and a Home

The phone ringing is what startles him out of his daze. He frowns at the clock and tries to quell the instinctive spike of concern. 

It took him years to realize that he didn’t need to be afraid every time the phone rang. 

That he was allowed the spike of pleasure when it rang and he saw  **_Stiles_ ** blinking up at him. 

It took years away from the chaos of Beacon Hills and a steady stream of texts from Stiles, with daily minutia and jokes and whining complaints about his father’s eating habits to retrain the panic into a slow bloom of pleasure that he still struggles with. 

It’s not that he doesn’t expect Stiles to call. It’s that it’s early, more than anything. 

After all the years of running, of crisis barely averted and never knowing what would come next, he lived on a schedule that eased the paranoia, the hair trigger panic that sometimes welled up and choked him. 

Stiles said it was being healthy, that having a rigid schedule was part of it for Derek, and no one got to tell him it was ridiculous. 

He closes  his computer as the phone goes silent, and considers. 

It’s early and Stiles knows he’ll still be deep in research, but it  _ is _ the first day of his internship and he might just be excited. It happens sometimes--Stiles respects his rigid schedule, more than most, jealously guards and defends it for him. 

But then, they’ve always been a balancing act and he knows that as much as he needs solitude and structure, his quiet garden and weekend mornings at the farmer's market, as much as he needs the soothing repetition of research, of writing--sometimes, Stiles needs  _ him _ . 

And he has never begrudged him that,  _ revels _ in the fact that Stiles, who has always tried so hard to be everything for everyone, who tries not to need anyone beyond his father and Scott, because  _ needing _ means you can lose them and they can  _ hurt _ you--he adores the fact that Stiles picked him. Wants him.  _ Needs  _ him.

The phone rings, again, and he scoops it up this time. 

“You’re early,” he almost growls, and he can hear the rabbit fast beat of his heart,  _ too  _ fast--Stiles is upset, and it makes him straighten. “What’s wrong?” 

There’s a laugh, and Derek  _ knows  _ that laugh. It’s one he hasn’t heard in years--one that Stiles doesn’t use, not anymore, not since he left Beacon Hills and all the shit that went down there behind. 

It’s the cold bitter calculating that Stiles left behind and refused to let into the life they’ve built that is mornings in bed together and afternoons researching and evenings watching movies and experimenting cooking. 

It’s a quiet life, and something low in his gut aches because he knows that they’ll get it back, that whatever is happening, Stiles will never let this slip away completely. They fought too hard, for too long. Stiles needs this as much as he does, and it’s ok, it’s  _ ok _ to need things, to be  _ happy _ , with each other. It’s ok to want this, to fight for this. 

If not for each other, what the hell are they fighting for?

He looks at the tiny cottage that they’ve made into a home and a haven and he takes a breath, warm cinnamon candle and  _ home _ filling him up, and breathes out the panic because it’s not ending. He refuses to believe it’s ending. 

“Derek,” Stiles starts, and Derek nods to himself. 

Whatever happens, they’ll get this back. 

“Tell me what happened,” he says, and Stiles does.  


End file.
